Modern day refrigerators (which includes combination refrigerator/freezers) have electrically operated devices in the refrigerated spaces. For example, typical refrigerators include one or more electric lamps which illuminate the interior when the doors are opened and many refrigerators include electrically operated ice makers and dispensing mechanisms of various kinds. All of the various electrically operated devices require that electric conductors or wires be routed to the interior of the liner. At the same time, modern refrigerators use foamed in place insulation filling the space between the liner and the outer cabinet of the machine. One approach has been to form the insulation and, after it has set-up, to pierce a hole through the insulation then thread electric wires through the hole and finally fill hole with an insulation material such as, for example, a material having the consistency of putty. This process is time consuming and labor intensive and does not assure uniformly good insulation around the conductors.
Another approach is to capture the wires in the central body portion of a molded grommet which has one or more threads around its outer edge. The grommet is then threaded in an opening in the liner before the insulation is formed. This assure good insulation and reduces the assembly time but is not entirely satisfactory. As an example, the threaded engagement between the grommet and liner requires the assembler to rotate the grommet through a significant angular distance. In addition, in some cases the wires conveniently should terminate in an electric connector structure which is captured or molded in the grommet. This prior art mounting makes it difficult to assure that the grommet is in the optimum orientation in the liner for connection to the molded-in connector.
Also it is necessary to pass the refrigerant conduit through the insulation layer so that it can connect the evaporator in the refrigerant system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,945, issued to Hahn and assigned to General Electric Company. Describes an assembly for this purpose. Hahn discloses a transition tube with a hollow central body having a plurality of locking tabs extending radially outward of the body. The locking tabs include camming faces which engage the outer cabinet as the tube is rotated. The tube also includes a plurality of stops offset relative to the locking tabs to positively locate the rotational position of the tube when it is mounted on the cabinet.